Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-04-29
0RARf,S 0RA1AA8
Mssk rwa,nV luimisable Answer TO Mssshes
Asuold0 Criticism.

ASu0ld0 CrttAcasm
| At the annual reunion OF the Army anu
Navy club OF Connecticut IN Hartford. Conn.,,
on Wednesday evening, the chiei addfess ON
the memory of General Grant VAS msde ~
| Rev. DR.. NJ. Il. Riddle, formerly chaplain
in the service He was followed ty :. Il
| clemens MARK Twsin), who delivered the
/ following characteristic address:
I will detain YOU With only lust q few
vords-just q few thousand words, then give
plsce to q oet,er nan-if he has beeu created.
Lately great snd honored author, Matthew
Arnold, has teen finding FAULT with General
Grants EDglish. That would be fair enough,
may be, II the eXsmples ofimpertect English
averaged more Instances to the page In
General Grants book than they do in Mr..
Arnold's criticism upon the book-but they
don't Laughter and applause 1t would
be fair enough, may TO. II sucn instances
were commoner in General GRANTS BOOK
than they are in the works OF the average
standard suthor--but they are not In truth,
General Grants derelicIions in the mstter oil
grammar and construction are not more
frequent than are such derelictions in the
works of q sjority OF the professional
authors OF our time and OF all previous
times-authors a. exclusively and painstAk-
ingly trained to the literary trade as
was General Grant to the trade OF
war Applausel. This Is not random
statement it is a fact, and easily demonstrs-
BILE. l have at home book called =" Modern
English Literature, its Blemishes and De-
fects," by Henry h. Breen, +. =, A., couu-
| trymau Of Mr.. Arnold. In 1t lind examples
| of bad grammar and slovenly English from
| the pens of sydney Smith, Sheridan, Hallam,
Whateley, Carlyle, both pisraelis, Allison,
Junius, Blair, Mscaulay, Shakespeare, Mil.
ton, Gibbons, Southey, Bulwer, Cobhett, DR..
Samuel johnson, Trench, Lamb, Lsndor,
Smollet, Wslpole, Walker of the dictionary },
Christopher North, Kirke White, Mrs,
Sigourney, Ben amin Franklin, Walter Scott
and Mr.. Liudley Murray who made the
grammar.
In MIR. Arnold's paper on General Grants
book We tind a couple OF grammatical crimes
and more than several examples OF very crude
and slovenly English-enough of them to
easily entitle him to lofty place in that illus
trious list OF delinquents just named. The
following passage, all by itself, ought to elect
him: "Meade suggested to Grant that he
might wish to have Immediately under him
Sherman, who had been serving with Grant
in the West. He begged him not to hesitate
| IL he thought II for the good OF the service
| Grant assured him that he had not thought o
removing him, and in his mentors, after re
lating what had passed, he adds" etc. tt
read that passage couple OF times woulC
make man dizzy; to read four times woult
make him drunk. Great laughter. Gen
eral Grants grammar Is as good as any pody'
but II this were not 80, Mr.. Breen woul,
, brush that iuconsequentisl fact aside ant
hunt his great book TOR far higher game
| Mr.. Bresn makes this discriminating re
l uldfh ~ suppose tllts pcttusc uhu -
, | poet or q historian he must be corrected Il
.. | his grammar Is to suppose that an architec
l | must be joiner or physician or cou
. | FOUNDER OF medicines" Mr.. Breen's por
is well taken. 1t you should climb tn
mighty MstterhorL to look out over the kins
, doms Of the earth it might be pleasant inc
dent to lind straw berries up there but, gre,
Scott, you don't climb the Matterhorn ft
strawberries Continued applause don
n | think Mr.. Arnold was quite wise, for he we
| knew that that Srtou American Was new
> vet born who could safely assault anoth,
v mans English. He knew as we'll as
q knows nothing that the man never live
whose English was fiawless. Can you
5 | lieve that Mr. Arnold was imm Oldest euoug
8 to imagine himself an exception to this cas-
iron rule, the sole exception discoverab
within three or four centuries during whiC
O the English Language proper has been in 9
istence? No. Mr.. Arnold did not imsRiI
9 that He merely forgot that for q nome
= | he was moving into q glass house. and he b,
II hardly got fairly in before General Fry "
9 shivering the panes over his head. Laug
ter
People may hunt ou, what microscop
notes they please; but, after all, the fact r
q mains aud cannot be dislodged that Grant
It book is great (and in its peculiar depat
3. ment unique) and unapproschsble literal
II masterpiece. In their line there IL no high
literature than those modest, simple NJ
- moirs" Their style is At least tawless ar
no man can improve upon ii; and gre
l. | BOOKS are weighed ana measured by the
j. style and matter, not by the trimmings an
% shadings of their grammar There Is tn
q about the sun which makes US forget b
n spots; and when we think OF General Graz
n our pulses quicken and his grammar Val
I ishes; We only remember tina, this is the sin
> pie soldier who, all untaught OF the silke
Q phrasenakers linked words togeth,
: with an art SURPRISING the art
Q the schools, aud put into them
! | something which Will still bring
9 American ears as long as America shall la
G the roll OF his vanished drums and the trea
0 OF his marching posts. Tumultuous az
r plause What do we care Tor grammar whe
We think OF the men that put together thi
| thunderous phrase :"unconditional and in
| mediate surrender" And those others g
| propose to move Immediately upon you
, works ;""I propose to fight it out on this liu
If 1t takes all summer" Applause. NJ
Arnold would doubtless CLAIM that that Ia,
sentence is not strictly grammatical, and ye
nevertheless, it did certainly wake up tn
| nation as loo, 600, 600 tons AL fourth proc
t | hard boiled, hide-.bound grammar frol
, | another mouth couldn't have done. An
. finally We have that gentler phrase ; that or
which shows you another true side OF II
man shows that in his soldier heart theI
q was room for other than CORY war mottoe
o and in his tongue the gift to titly phrs,
8 them: Let US have peace" Prolonged q
| nlansQ and ri